Cigarette maker feeder

Abstract

A novel tobacco feed device (10) and method of use thereof for the direct feed of tobacco to rod formation in a cigarette making machine are described. The device (10) includes a reservoir tube (42) containing a reservoir of opened cut tobacco, metering rolls (54) to meter required amounts of cut tobacco from the reservoir tube (42) to discharge metered tobacco to the cigarette maker. Internal hoppers, carding drums and picker wheels are avoided by the structure of the invention giving rise to greatly enhanced tobacco filling power.

What we claim is: 
     
       1. A method for providing a feed of tobacco for a cigarette making machine, which comprises: feeding cut tobacco downwardly from a source of unopened cut tobacco between counterrotating metering rollers to form a metered flow of cut tobacco particles,   contacting said metered flow with mechanical opening means to open said metered flow and separate the tobacco particles in said metered flow one from another,   feeding all said separated tobacco particles into a flowing air stream passing through an enclosed tobacco feed conduit extending continuously from said source of unopened cut tobacco to a second location,   conveying by said flowing air stream all said fed cut tobacco particles in substantially separated condition to a reservoir at said second location,   separating said conveyed tobacco particles from said air stream at said second location,   collecting said separated tobacco particles in said reservoir, and   metering tobacco particles from said reservoir to form said feed.   
     
     
       2. The method of claim 1 wherein said reservoir is located in a subatmospheric pressure environment and said metered particles are discharged from said subatmospheric pressure environment to form said feed in an atmospheric pressure environment while maintaining said subatmospheric pressure environment. 
     
     
       3. A method of forming a tobacco filler rod, which comprises: feeding cut tobacco downwardly from a source of unopened cut tobacco between counterrotating metering rollers to form a metered flow of cut tobacco particles,   contacting said metered flow with mechanical opening means to open said metered flow and separate the tobacco particles in the metered flow one from another,   feeding all said separated tobacco particles into a flowing air stream passing through an enclosed tobacco feed conduit extending continuously from said source of unopened cut tobacco to a second location,   air conveying by said flowing air stream all said fed cut tobacco particles in a substantially separated condition to a reservoir at said second location,   collecting said conveyed particles directly from said conveying air stream in said reservoir,   metering cut tobacco particles from said reservoir thereof at a flow rate required for filler rod formation to form a feed of substantially separated tobacco particles in a form suitable for tobacco filler rod formation, and   forming said tobacco filler rod directly from said feed of tobacco particles.   
     
     
       4. The method of claim 3, wherein said reservoir is located in a subatmospheric pressure environment and said feed is discharged from said subatmospheric pressure environment to an atmospheric pressure environment while maintaining said subatmospheric pressure environment. 
     
     
       5. An apparatus for forming a feed of tobacco for a cigarette making machine, comprising: a tobacco metering and conveying apparatus to meter tobacco from a reservoir thereof, separate the metered tobacco into separate particles and air convey the separated particles to a tobacco reservoir means for holding a reservoir of cut tobacco,   tobacco and air separating means for separating said tobacco particles and the air conveying stream at said reservoir means,   metering means located in fluid flow communication with said reservoir means for metering cut tobacco from said reservoir thereof,   opening means for opening cut tobacco metered by said metering means, and   tobacco conveying means located in fluid flow communication with said opening means for receiving opened tobacco and for conveying the opened tobacco to an outlet thereof,   said tobacco conveying means comprising a rotary air lock means having an upper inlet in communication with said opening means, a rotor having radially-projecting vanes extending into sealing engagement with facing arcuate walls, thereby defining tobacco conveying compartments between arcuately-adjacent pairs of vanes, and a lower outlet for discharge of tobacco conveyed by said tobacco conveying compartments.   
     
     
       6. A cigarette-making machine, comprising: means for providing a feed of tobacco particles in a substantially separated condition to a transversely-elongate, laterally-thin upright reservoir vessel means for holding a reservoir of cut tobacco in substantially separated form, said reservoir vessel means having open upper and lower ends,   tobacco metering means in fluid flow communication with the lower end of said reservoir vessel means for metering tobacco from said lower end across the whole width thereof and for providing the metered tobacco in a substantially separated condition in the form of a transversely-wide, laterally-thin falling stream suitable for formation of a tobacco filler rod therefrom,   said tobacco metering means comprising a pair of horizontally-spaced rollers located at the lower end of said reservoir means arranged for rotation about parallel axes to meter tobacco from the lower end of said reservoir vessel and a third roller located below and equidistantly from the axes of the pair of rollers for unidirectional rotation about an axis parallel to the axes of said pair of rollers to open the metered tobacco and provide said metered tobacco in a substantially separated condition, and   filler rod-forming means including a filler rod-forming surface movable longitudinally across the width of the falling tobacco stream.   
     
     
       7. A cigarette-making machine, comprising: a transversely-elongate, laterally-thin upright reservoir vessel means for holding a reservoir of cut tobacco and having open upper and lower ends;   tobacco metering and feeding means in communication with said upper end of said reservoir vessel means, said tobacco metering and feeding means comprising: tobacco metering means for metering cut tobacco from a reservoir thereof,   tobacco opening means for opening the metered tobacco to provide said cut tobacco in substantially separated form,   conduit means extending from said tobacco opening means to said reservoir vessel means,   vacuum inducing means in communication with said conduit means adjacent said reservoir vessel means for drawing air through said conduit means thereby to convey therethrough the opened cut tobacco received into said conduit means, and   tobacco/air separator means located at said upper end of said reservoir vessel means for separating the air drawn through said conduit means from the tobacco conveyed thereby, whereby the conveyed tobacco enters said reservoir vessel means to form said reservoir of cut tobacco therein;     tobacco metering means in fluid flow communication with the lower end of said reservoir vessel means for metering tobacco from said lower end across the whole width thereof and for providing the metered tobacco in a substantially separated condition in the form of a transversely-wide, laterally-thin falling stream suitable for formation of a tobacco filler rod therefrom,   said tobacco metering means comprising a pair of horizontally-spaced rollers located at the lower end of said reservoir vessel means arranged for rotation about parallel axes to meter tobacco from the lower end of said reservoir vessel and a third roller located below and equidistantly from the axes of the pair of rollers for rotation about an axis parallel to the axes of said pair of rollers to open the matered tobacco and provide said metered tobacco in a substantially separated condition; and   filler rod-forming means including a filler rod-forming surface movable longitudinally across the width of the falling tobacco stream.   
     
     
       8. The cigarette making machine of claim 7 wherein said conduit means terminates in a horizontally-directed pipe, said horizontally-directed pipe communicates with a downwardly-curved pipe integrally formed with the upper end of said reservoir vessel, said tobacco/air separator means comprises an air permeable and tobacco impermeable screen located in one wall of said downwardly-curved pipe at the inlet end thereof, and said vacuum inducing means communicates with the downstream side of said screen. 
     
     
       9. The cigarette making machine of claim 7 or 8, including continuous vacuum air lock means between said reservoir vessel means and said filler rod forming means to enable tobacco to be discharged from said reservoir vessel without interrupting the flow of air through said conduit means.